I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with beets! If someone else prepares them in a salad or soup, I usually love them. If I prepare them, I usually hate them!

My only experience using beets that I made and enjoyed was when I juiced them.

Until now!!

I found a great, flavorful, beet soup recipe in my Straight from the Earth cookbook. This is a vegan cookbook I got as a gift. I made a few important changes, like not using the canola oil, that makes it more real food friendly 🙂

If you want to know more about why I avoid canola, and other vegetable oils, click here and here.

Okay now for the recipe!

Serves: 4-6  Prep Time: 20 minutes  Cook time: 45-50 minutes

 Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil, or butter
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 TBS fennel seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• Big pinch of red pepper flakes
• 5 cups of beef broth, I think the beef compliments the heartiness of the beets best. Feel free to use chicken or vegetable broth.
• 4 large beets with greens, if you can’t get the greens, swiss chard is a good substitute.
• 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro for garnish
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Peel and chop beets into a large dice. Finely chop the greens. Set aside.

Place a large pot over medium-high heat, add the oil, or butter. Add in onion, garlic, bay leaves, fennel seeds, coriander, cumin, thyme and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and the mixture is fragrant.

Add the broth and beets. Cover, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and cook until the beets are soft and tender, about 30-45 minutes.

Once the beets have softened, add the chopped greens to the pot, cover and cook about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with cilantro.

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